Once Luther dropped us, we rushed into the library, straight to Mrs. Dolly’s office.
I saw Roland’s car parked outside which means he is still with her. The library as usual was as quiet as a graveyard except for the hummingbirds and billows of the breeze outside. Not even a sound from the current inhabitants.
I knocked at her door and waited for her to announce for us to come in but no sound was coming forth.
“Are you sure they would be in there? Maybe we should check them in the history compartment,” Mary suggested and was already moving in that direction. I spared Mrs. Dolly’s office a glance as I turned and followed after her and Nadia.
Drawing near, I perceived Roland’s scent first, before they came into view as usual deep in their tattles that I often wonder what it’s about. If not that Roland told me he had known her for a long time, I will think they were related.
“Thank goodness you are here! I was just telling Roland that I fear you might not make it here today since Theresa is back,” Mrs. Dolly expressed once inside the library.
“And I told her, knowing you, that you will do everything possible to get here,” Roland chipped in and we busted out laughing.
“Okay, what’s the news?!” Mary blasted in, her face full of enthusiasm. “We can’t wait to hear it,” she stressed in a lower embarrassed tone when we all looked at her oddly.
“Calm down, girls. I am excited to share my findings with you guys too. I mean, Roland had been prodding me to tell him, but I told him I will have to wait till you get here, if not today, then till tomorrow or next.” I rolled my eyes within. Why is she wasting time?
“Okay?” drawled Nadia, of equal state of mind.
“Come, everyone, I have something to share with you guys while we discuss…” Urgh! I internally stomped my feet on the ground, quietly getting irritated. Is she intentionally killing us with the suspense of what we already know? And why are we so bothered when we already know the answer? Paisley is pregnant, we know that, so why care about her confirmation?
All the same, we followed after her with fallen faces like loyal dogs patiently waiting for a bone.
She took us to another direction of the library we haven’t ventured into since we started coming here and judging from the faces of my friends, they are equally stunned by the new discovery; A minibar in the library?
“I had it built-in over the years since I spent most of my time here.” She chuckled in a strained way and took a bottle. “In case you are wondering why I would need a bar at the library, well, simple. I love the bottles. A glass while reading takes me off this wretched land into the land of my own making, hidden away between the covers…” I had to smile ruefully, reflecting on how much she had been lonely by herself here without us all these years.
Well, thanks to Gad, we changed that and soon many others would find their way here. It’s only a matter of time.
“She isn’t pregnant,” she suddenly let out the disruptive bombshell.
“What!” We cried in unison.
“She lied about it…” She took a sip of the glistening substance, a tiny smile etched on her lips. “She is desperate to get the crown. But that is not the issue…”
Paisley is not pregnant? How? We were so certain about it. If she isn’t pregnant, then…
“There is a man in her life. A man that isn’t the King,” Mrs. Dolly continued. Yes! Exactly what I was about to say. Who is the man then? “I’m sorry I couldn’t get the identity of the man. I would have if Roland hadn’t come in and told me Theresa had arrived.”
OMG. I knew it! But… she isn’t pregnant? How should I take this? I was expecting her to be pregnant so that at least we could use that to shame her before the Queen for lying to earn the crown, especially now she thinks the worst of me. But, if Paisley isn’t pregnant that means my plans are ruined.
“It’s a good thing then…” Nadia, having sensed my worry, opined. “Now our new task would be to find the masked lover. And we will do that with scent.”
“Scent?”
“Yes, scent. There is no way she would bring someone from outside the palace to have a tryst with. It must be someone within. That means we have to plan on how to find out through identifying the scent of the person since we already know the scent of everyone in the mansion.”
“Brilliant!” I breathe out slowly, nodding my head. “That is amazing Naddy. Now the problem is how can we do that?”
“I know someone who can,” Mary inserted with an impish smile.
“Who?” I asked.
“Paisley’s maid. She is my friend too. I can ask her to-”
“She will tell her mistress,” Mrs. Dolly spoke up instantly, cutting her off. “Never trust her.”
“Oh,” Mary intoned, lowering her gaze.
I exhaled. “Maybe I would have to do this. Something just cropped up in my head. I can hide in her room one of these nights and then wait for her to-”
“She will catch you. She is a powerful Hybrid just like us. Just because I managed to paralyze her abilities for some time to infiltrate her mind, doesn’t mean you should underestimate her abilities. She would scent you out as fast as the wind.” I covered my eyes at Mrs. Dolly’s words, eventually accepting that I will have to sleep through this one. It’s going to be difficult
“Let’s just go home and think about it. We don’t have to be in haste so as not to mess things up now that we have come this far,” Roland surmised, bobbing his shoulders.
“Yeah, I think so too,” added Mary.
“Okay… maybe you are right… I-i simply want us to nail this thing down before the full moon so that Theresa won’t force the King into marrying her. He might want me now but who knows tomorrow?” I aired my worry, my voice sounding broken at the edge.
“You know that is not possible, Danika. Not after you tell him this. He would see the monster she is and would never allow his mother to make him do that. You act like you don’t know the King.” Nadia reeled, coming to take my right hand. “We will solve this riddle, okay?”
I looked at her and the others-all their faces of identical stance. “Okay.”
She tugged my hand. “It’s fine. Let’s go home before it’s dinner. You have to be present lest anyone suspects anything out of place. You have to still remain on Paisley’s side in order to unravel this mystery lover. It would make things easier.”
“Okay, Nadia. As much as this revelation crushes every motive I had at freedom from her pesky presence, I will endure it.” I shrugged.
Mrs. Dolly chuckled. “She is a very confident one. She is so certain that she is going to become the next Luna Queen. Again, I will give it to her that she is a learnable person.”
“Yeah, she is both of what you said. Sometimes it makes me want to go nuts, but she’s cool. Only that she has her eyes set on my mate, maybe I might have genuinely liked her,” I conferred.
“It will get better. Let’s hope whoever she is having a tryst with, means well for her so that when this is over, she will have someone to cuddle with,” she said.
“What if it’s one of the guards?” Nadia asked with slight mischief, giggling at the end.
“No! It’s someone important. I caught a faint aura which disappeared when Roland came in,” Mrs. Dolly said. Someone important? Apart from the guards, there is no other important male figure in the house except Alonso and Alfred. Perhaps she is sneaking someone in.
My curiosity would kill me if I continued mulling over this without doing anything about it. I stood up rapidly to announce our departure, then recalled something else I would really want to ask Mrs. Dolly. “Mrs. Dolly?”
“Yeah?”
“Why are you quarreling with Theresa?” I requested. Her eyes twitched in an unmistakable shock at my question.
“Nothing… I mean, mean-” she stuttered, waving her hands about. There must be something serious just as my guts tell me.
I coughed, swished my eyes about, and made a decision. “It’s fine if you don’t want to say anything. We will leave now. See you tomorrow.” I beckoned to my friends with a small smile.
I am definitely coming here alone tomorrow. It appears I will need to have a talk with Mrs. Dolly. The Lockhart family seems to harbor a lot of secrets, secrets that might solve a lot of problems for us if sorted.
If I was going to be a good Queen, I have to know them, to know their weights and know if I can fit in to solving some of them. We can’t continue this way… No, the solution is the only way out.
Maybe that way, they can avoid inducting power-hungry people to rule like my former Alpha, who would in the long run, destroy the efforts of the King, my mate.
…